At the Green Industry Expo in Orlando, Fla., Professional Landcare Network representatives advised landscape contractors relying on seasonal guest-worker programs that their access to this legal source of temporary workers is close to being severely limited for the first half of fiscal year 2006, which started Nov. 1.
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Presently, more than 28,000 of the 33,000 visas available in the first half of the fiscal year for workers new to the program are either pending or already authorized, the association reports. Therefore, employers will once again be negatively impacted by the statutory cap. For those contractors who received certification from the U.S. Department of Labor, PLANET suggests that landscape business owners next-day deliver their I-129 forms to the Department of Homeland Security.
The H-2B Workers Coalition and PLANET met with U.S. Senatorial staffers and with agency officials from all three of the departments involved in the H-2B program. The Department of Homeland Security officials clarified that employer petitions filed after the exhaustion of the cap for the first half of the fiscal year will be returned. It was understood, however, that if an employer’s need for workers extends into the second half of the fiscal year, the employer may resubmit a petition on Dec. 1 with a requested start date of April 1, 2006, since the certification from the U.S. Department of Labor is good for one year. The remaining 33,000 worker visas will be made available and new H-2B workers allowed into the country on April 1.
Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for PLANET, points out, “Unlike prior years, once the cap for the first half of 2006 is reached, employers will have the option to get the workers they need by using returning workers.”
A returning worker is one that participated in the H-2B program in one of the last three fiscal years. Employers will still be able to file petitions for these returning H-2B workers in accordance with the Save our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005, which was enacted earlier this year. These exempted workers will be allowed to enter the country and work in temporary jobs that American workers do not fill prior to the reopening of the program in April 2006.
PLANET is working with the coalition and its lobbyist, D.C. Legislative and Regulatory Services (DCLRS), for another legislative solution in preparation for the October 2007 date, when the returning workers exemption is discontinued.
For more information about the H-2B cap, call 800/395-2522 or visit www.landcarenetwork.org.
Visit www.lawnandlandscape.com for continued coverage of the Green Industry Expo.